Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu and University of Ghana Professor Ransford Gyampo have jointly filed a lawsuit against the Attorney-General and the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) concerning the case of former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources Cecilia Abena Dapaah.
Kpebu, who revealed the lawsuit on TV3’s Key Points on Saturday, July 20, stated that the issue stems from the Attorney-General’s advice to EOCO not to investigate the matter.
“We have sued, the advice by the A-G, we are challenging the A-G in court. We filed the writ a week ago. There are several cases coming up. We have sued EOCO and A-G. Which law says that you must find a predicate offence?” he asked.
Martin Kpebu previously clarified that it is not necessary to establish a predicate offence in money laundering before charging someone with the crime.
A predicate offence is the initial illegal activity that leads to another crime, such as how tax evasion can serve as a predicate offence in money laundering because the illicit proceeds from tax evasion are laundered.
Kpebu argued that failure to disclose the source of income is sufficient grounds for a money laundering charge.
He was responding to the Attorney-General’s advice to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) not to proceed with investigating money laundering allegations in the case involving former Sanitation Minister Cecilia Dapaah.
Upon EOCO’s request for advice, the Attorney-General’s office, in a letter dated April 25, 2024, and sent to EOCO, indicated that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) had not submitted its collaborative investigation report to EOCO.
The letter also mentioned that the OSP had not responded to EOCO’s request for its findings.
According to the Attorney-General’s office, the docket provided to EOCO contained only the OSP’s transmission letter, a diary of actions, investigation statements, and correspondence between the OSP and other institutions like the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and banks.
